Much has been written about the Pew Survey and the loss of the number of Catholics in the USA. If they qualified as a separate denomination, the Americans who have deserted the Catholic Church of their childhood would constitute the third-largest religious group in the country, with 10.1% of the population. For every convert to the Catholic church, it losses 4. However, there are some positive numbers as well which bode well for the church.
CARA Reflections on Pew’s U.S. Religious Landscape Survey
None of these other Christian churches has had as much success as the Catholic Church in keeping those raised in the faith in the pews as adults. The Pew study indicates that the Catholic Church has retained 68 percent of those who grew up Catholic. If one accepts the notion that changing from one Protestant denomination to another is not a real change, the Pew report still indicates that 11 out of 100 adults in the United States were raised in any Protestant denomination and no longer identifies with any Protestant denomination today. If one includes changes between Protestant denominations as real changes, one in four U.S. adults no longer selfidentifies with the Protestant denomination in which they were raised.
The Latino population was underestimated in the survey. The number of Latinos in the Landscape Survey who identify themselves as Catholic (58%) is considerably lower than in a major survey of Latinos the Forum conducted in 2006 with the Pew Hispanic Research Center, where more than two-thirds (68%) identified as Catholic” (p. 41)
This would increase the Catholic numbers by 5% overall. CARA’s survey holds that 2% of adults convert to Catholicism whereas Pew says 2.6%. I’d tend to go with the lower figure.Thirty-eight percent of those who said they were raised Catholic and later left the faith said they stopped considering themselves to be Catholic before reaching the age of 18 and 6.6 percent said they did so before even reaching the age of 7, which is often used as the standard within the Catholic Church for the age of reason/discretion. Only 13.6 percent of former Catholics say they stopped considering themselves to be Catholic after the age of 35.
The point in a childs life where they become independant and determine to get married is when people make the choice to stay or leave the church. The teen years is when we have to get them more involved and better religious education. The latter point IMO mean to teach teens how to apply how to incorporate Christian principles to everyday life. I think secular society is a major factor in the losses. The lure of the material world requires sacrifices for the young and instead of calling our kids to a high standard, we lower expectations and in fact lose more folks.
The most interesting was the fact that protestant members changing to other protestant churches was 44%. That is unreal. People are either looking for the “True Church” or they are looking for a church which fits their values which naturally is what the true church would hold if it existed.
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Just looking for clarification on two things. The Catholic retention rate is 68%, and the context implies that the Protestants do worse than that. However, the number looks to be 75%, since as it says, one in four no longer identify with their childhood protestant faith. This part is all from what you quoted, so I am wondering what I missed? Maybe I am confused by the language.
You state later that 44% of protestants have switched flavor of protestantism. That makes me think that maybe that 1/4 number means one in four Americans are protestants who have switched, rather than meaning 1/4 protestants have switched.
It might also be interesting to look at the difference between more mainline (Lutheran, episcopal) protestants compared to more evangelical denominations (souther baptist, seventh day adventist).
I will say, from personal experience, that lukewarmness, or Sunday Catholicism (lowered expectations is what you called it) helped open a gateway for me to question my faith, so you may be on to something with that. Stricter expectations may not have changed my rebellion against the Church at all, or it may simply have expanded it from intellectual to something more physically self destructive. It’s impossible to tell.
I will also note, I was most involved in church teaching in my teen years, going to Catholic school. You suggest that this may be a better way to keep people in the Church. However, the lukewarmness of the majority of Catholic students (often those who claimed the strongest faith cared the least to learn about it or act on that faith) was mind boggling. That isn’t to say there weren’t students who were good, practicing, “Hot” if you will, Catholics. But for those on the fence, being surrounded by Sunday Catholics could be more harmful, from the church perspective of course.
I believe the 44% number deals with Protestants who switch from on Protestant demonination to another Protestant demonination.
THe Pew study does a breakdown as you suggest as far as absolute numbers but I don’t think they break it down much beyond that point.
“I will say, from personal experience, that lukewarmness, or Sunday Catholicism (lowered expectations is what you called it) helped open a gateway for me to question my faith, so you may be on to something with that.”
Well I think its really a good thing to question ones religious teaching. One has to test their assumptions otherwise when life brings challenges its never up to the task of upholding under the pressure. THe problem the church has is simply teaching that God is love(which is wonderful and true but it needs to be absorbed before age 7 not 16. By 16 you should know and understand valid reasons for protecting marriage as the way to maintain and build society. That ones faith is something lived out 24/7 not just for 75 minutes on Sundays. That God hates divorce because it destroys men, women, and children places them in poverty and greater danger to other problems.
“Stricter expectations may not have changed my rebellion against the Church at all, or it may simply have expanded it from intellectual to something more physically self destructive. It’s impossible to tell.”
Well the past 30 years in the church has been rather ugly especially in the area of education. The mass was the other area were experimentation hurt alot of folks. I’ve found that there is quite of bit on interest in the old latin traditional mass with the college age kids. We’ll have to see how that develops, since most of the older Catholics don’t desire to go back to the latin mass.
“You suggest that this may be a better way to keep people in the Church. However, the lukewarmness of the majority of Catholic students (often those who claimed the strongest faith cared the least to learn about it or act on that faith) was mind boggling. That isn’t to say there weren’t students who were good, practicing, “Hot” if you will, Catholics. But for those on the fence, being surrounded by Sunday Catholics could be more harmful, from the church perspective of course.”
You could be right. I had difficulty teaching the teens, because as you said they simply didn’t care. I requested that their parent not have the child confirmed because they were simply making a committment to appease their parents. The parents of course who excerised such a poor track record of religious instruction of their child thought I was self righteously judging their child. In point of fact I was judging them by forcing the child to commit to something they didn’t value. How Christian is that? I was finally removed from that position.
Lets face it, teens are challenged by the culture at large. They get about 6 hours/day that sex, drugs and rock & roll are not only good, but very good. Refraining from sex, drugs and much of Rock & roll receive about 45 minutes/wl. Which is going to win out?
Thanks for your comments.
I myself am a Pentecostal Protestant who has moved over to the Episcopalian church. Had my heritage been more mindful of the depth of church history and doctrine, and had celebrated the church calender, and put the focus from the preached word to the word ingested, I would likely not have needed to switch. Now if only we could start to look like Anglicanism 70 years ago I’d be in heaven
I certainly didn’t feel like I was looking for “the “true” Church,” at least not as my good Roman Catholic and Orthodox siblings like to imply. I was just looking to be connected to the church through the ages and for doctrinal accountability.
To be honest I fear for the new conservativism amongst younger Roman Catholic priests, I don’t know what was so glorious about Vatican I. I think we just might be shrinking because God is with the poor and the persecuted, and we are neither.
On the liturgy and the liturgical year I think you’ll find some very helpful insights in your personnel life. It took me a while to appreciate this aspect of the church, I took it for granted and didn’t look past the surface, but there is depth to it if you seek it.
On Vatican I it intented to include Vatican II in it, but a war broke out and they were never able to re-assemble. Its beneficial IMO to view the two councils as one IMO.
I would disagree with you on the poor and persecuted. While the Catholic church in the USA is certainly neither, the church in China is underground, India has priestly murdered monthly, the middle east and africa are only richer in relation to their latin american brothers. Mexico is considered Catholic, but the gov’t has never been accepting of the church nor are most of the dictators in South America.
That’s what I meant. The poor and persecuted church is where growth is happening. We all of us are getting persecuted in these regions, certainly not only Roman Catholics. I know my Anglican siblings in Africa and India are!